A fine piece of belly pork.

I sliced the fat with a sharp blade, rubbed salt pepper and lemon thyme into the creases. 30 minutes at 230ºC, then an hour or so at 180º. It didn't need an extra blast at the heat, the crackling was done to perfection.

... as easy as pie.

Eat hot, warm or cold as a stolen slice straight from the fridge. This is comfort food that is easy on effort, so very simple, and fills little and big tummies equally happily. I added sharks to my pie crust; a pie without frivolous embellishment is somehow naked.

Sophie Grigson's Sausage and Apple Pie

Take a 450g packet of ready-made puff pastry (if you will. Make your own if you have the urge). Cut the block in half and roll one piece to generously line a shallow 9 inch pie plate.

Take a quantity of good sausage meat (a 450g packet of fat sausages cut from their skins is an excellent choice) and spread evenly across the pastry sheet. Season with pepper, nutmeg andfresh chopped sage (3 or 4 leaves). Peel, core and slice 2 large eating apples and arrange the slices evenly across the sausage meat. Season again with pepper and nutmeg.

Roll out the remaining pastry to form the lid. Beat an egg yolk with a tablespoon of cold water and brush the edges of the pie pastry with the egg wash and lay the lid on top. Press the edges together to seal, and trim the excess. Make a hole in the centre of the lid to let the steam out, and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Put a baking tray in the oven and preheat the oven to 220ºC.

Brush the pastry with the egg wash (after adding fish or otherwise-shaped motifs) just before popping in the oven on top of the baking tray so the base gets an instant blast of heat. After 15 minutes, reduce the heat to 180ºC and cook for another 30-40 minutes until the apple is tender.

Browsing in my local bookshop in the few minutes before it shut tonight i found a Tamasin Day-Lewis cook book that i didn't already have on my bookshelf. Her cooking style suits me; sophisticated enough to be a challenge but never fiddly, it is the sort of food i would like to put on my table every day.

I particularly like Tamasin's use of more unorthodox vegetables. I am not silly enough to try the curried cream of artichoke soup (well, maybe), but the spicy celeriac and coconut milk soup is high on my list to try, along with celeriac, thyme and potato gratin, once the winter vegetables start appearing in my veg box.

My reminder list, for slightly cooler evenings:

• Sweet-sour roasted parsnips with sweet potatoes.
• Veal ragu
• Parsley and horseradish dumplings
• Beef Daube, flavoured with Rum

For some time, very soon:

• Summer Lemon and Raspberry cake
• Blondie (date brownies)
• A gluten-free almond and blood orange cake
• Lemon Devil's Food cake.

First of all i am set to try an alternative to my poached ham; a Baked Gammon with Parsley Sauce, for the boys' supper tomorrow.

I also browsed some unknown cook names, and spotted an idea i have to try: Rocky Road made with turkish delight and pistachios.


The Juiciest Meatballs



500g minced pork, a little finely chopped bacon, a crushed garlic clove, grated zest of a lemon and a handful of torn basil leaves; blend with your fingers and roll into walnut-sized balls. Flatten slightly as you cook them briskly in a pan with a little heated oil. Make sure they colour well to a crisp and caramelised finish - cook for 2 or 3 minutes on each side and check one to see they are juicy but not pink.

The children and i eat a great deal of gluten-free meals together but sometimes they need a dish that will stick to their ribs. Even in the summer they will eat Toad in the Hole (adapted from Nigel Slater's Real Food); a dish of perfectly puffed, crispy batter above dense, satisfactory pancake, studded with pork and herb sausages. I don't have to cook potatoes to go along side - they will fill up on a glory of stodge.

Mix 2 eggs, 125g plain flour, 1 tablespoon grain mustard, 150ml milk and 150ml water with a whisk or wand blender until the consistency of double cream. Leave (to allow the gluten in the flour to swell) for about 15 minutes.

Heat 3 tablespoons of sunflower oil (goose fat or lard is preferable, if to hand) in a oven proof pan. Add 6/8 sausages and allow to brown for 10 minutes in a very hot oven (220ºC). When the fat is smoking pour the batter around the sausages in the pan and put straight back in the oven for 25 minutes 'til golden brown.

For mummy, a quick and simple salad; a fistful of green beans cooked as you like them and drained well. Finely chop half a garlic clove and 3 fresh mint leaves. Add to a bowl with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice and mix until well combined. Put beans in the dressing and season with salt and pepper. Crumble 70g of firm goat's cheese over the beans, and add 2 tablespoons of pine kernels (first toasted in a dry frying pan).

From Buonissimo! by Gino D'Acampo.

I can't fully describe the satisfaction of having a batch of home cooked baked beans filling the kitchen full of savoury bliss with almost no effort on my part. I was driven to regular stir (and test) the transforming stew and can testify that the sweet herb/pork/tomato combination is irresistible, the anchovy is negligible but adds an level of intensity, and the final amount is never quite enough. I don't suppose that leaving out the pork would diminish the overall moreish effect - add some dijion mustard instead, perhaps.

Exceedingly simple, they keep for several days in the fridge, although my first batch was eaten for supper (with cold ham) and the remainder devoured for the following breakfast (with hot toast) with relish by children who usually refuse the tinned variety.

I tried a variation from here combined with this which works well.

Soak 375g of haricot (or cannellini, or navy) beans overnight in plenty of cold water, drain.

Chop and cook in a little olive oil: one onion, a large carrot, a celery stick, a large sweet pepper, and a small fresh chilli until onion is soft. Add 4 rashers of chopped bacon (or 100g pancetta, if you insist) and cook until slightly crisp. Add 2 cloves of garlic, crushed, 2 anchovy fillets, chopped, and a pinch each of dried thyme and oregano. Cook and stir for a minute.



Add 2 x 400g chopped tomatoes and the drained beans and sufficient water to cover all the ingredients. Bring to a simmer, then transfer the pan to an oven at 180ºC and bake for 3 hours until beans are tender. Stir hourly and add extra water if needed.



A drizzle of maple syrup and chopped parsley to serve is an extra flourish that you may or may not consider necessary. Don't add salt until the dish is about to be served.